Dredging Lake on #10

We are doing some quick dredging of the small lake on #10 in an attempt to assist in reducing some of the algae blooms that occur from time to time. Our backhoe can extend out into the pond but is probably about 5' shorter than we would like to see. We are going to increase some depth in the first 5-8 feet of the pond which should give a little more water capacity and help to reduce slightly some of our algae blooms that occur. Draining the lake and working in late fall our winter would be our best course of action which we will discuss at a later date with the green committee. I have mentioned to the membership in other communications that our water retention system needs improvement to help us reduce city water costs and improve the aesthetics of our lake systems.
Assistant Skip is using the backhoe and our single axle dump truck to haul the material back into our dump storage site.

Walk aerating green surrounds

Our green surrounds take a pummeling during the season, especially our zoysia which is next to our greens. In an effort to improve the close surround areas, we are using our old Toro walk aerator to punch some solid tine holes into these areas to loosen the soil and provide for some water penetration in these areas. We are also going to purchase a compost based fertilizer to then broadcast into these areas to give some slow release nutrition and improve the soil structure in these surrounds. Our plans are to remove the warm season turf from the surrounds but we cannot remove any more during the summer season and need to do all we can to improve the health of these areas at this time. It is a slow operation but it should pay dividends as the season progresses.

Russ is walking across the front of # 12 zoysia approach.















The following view is on the left side of #12

Mad Scientist at work

Assistant Mike has a concoction brewing down in the pump house for our algae problem at the small lake on #10. Our microbial product came in the other day and Mike had to mix up the brew.

The products had to be aerated for 3 full days and kept at around 80 degrees to help the cultures grow. Once we have completed some of our lake dredging, we will pour the material in the lakes and let them do their great work for us. The microbes are designed to eat the organic material and even the sludge which has organic material in it. Once this material is broken down, it reduces the amount of nutrients available to help the algae grow.

I've enclosed a couple of pictures for your information.

The first picture shows the size of the 32 gallon trash can. We have enough material for 40 gallons of little critters but decided to mix a smaller batch. We will then mix an additional batch in the next couple of weeks to insure that everything does not get washed down the creek in a big rain storm.

The next picture shows the bubbles from the aeration and the fermentation that is taking place from all of the microbes. We had to use pond water in preparing this material because the chlorinated water would have killed the microbes.

Greens Needle tine aeration

Its that time of year when we break out our large verti-drain aerating unit. This is the same unit that we use in the early spring and late fall to do our major aeration. Not too worry, this is one of the least disruptive cultural practices that we utilize on our green surfaces. We work hard at trying to smooth our green surfaces which helps with ball roll and plant health.

I made 3 videos to help explain the operation in great detail.

The first video shows that actual operation at work. Russ is our operator.

Its amazing with such large units on the greens that there is not major disruption of the surface but there is not. The large floating tires have relatively low inflation rates. 15 psi is standard and we lowered to 10 psi to insure that the tire would roll flatter reducing any potential for tire tracking.

The next video shows the verti-drain unit with its needle-tine holder and explanation of the spacing and the number of tines used.

The main emphasis for this work is to open up the green surface to allow for water penetration as well as oxygen exchange.

4-4.5 inches depth for most of our greens puts the tine into the soil layer which rests below the sand. This will assist us with water moving further into the green profile allowing for better rooting in the sand layer. There will also be opportunities for roots to find an additional home in that small channel that was made by the tines. The more roots at great depth, the better chance of survival during the heat of summer.

Another example of the aeration pattern and the size of the holes and their pattern.

Observations after changing holes today

It was all hands on deck today attempting to get the place back into golf shape from the rain over the last couple of days. A total of 1.25" since early Monday morning has made the turf at our club grow rapidly. We brought all staff in on Monday morning to do a quick mow of fairways, tees, close rough and of course greens. Rain in the middle of the night stopped part of that work and some additional morning showers all but put a halt to everything except mowing the greens. The ground was very soft and wet yesterday so we stayed off the course until the early afternoon when we began to mow some rough. We allowed our greens to rest because they had been mowed for a number of weeks without relief with Monday outings, regular play and maintenance practices which required mowing.

In 1995 when the greens were resurfaced, a product called Profile was tilled into the greens. If you've ever attempted to till a flower bed or garden, you understand how easy it is to not get consistent tilling across the complete site or to get the products you are attempting to blend together in the proper ratios. Here is a link to learn more about Profile.

http://www.profileproducts.com/en/_docs/PPC%20Sell%20Sheet%20No%20Logo.pdf

This product was incorporated to reduce localized dry spots and to provide for more air space for our greens which do not have drainage systems under them. Localized dry spots are soils which are water repellent and are difficult to get wet. In many cases, these areas do not receive proper irrigation and or have a tendency to dry out quicker than other sights. Humps and bumps on greens and areas facing to the west have a tendency to drain or dry quicker causing this phenomenon. We incorporate a number of cultural practices to combat this issue:

1. Aerify regularly to break up the soil profile and allow for water penetration.
2. Use wetting agents which help the soil/sand accept moisture.
3. Hand water greens or spray spots of the greens that we know have a tendency to dry quicker than others. We attempt to do this usually early in the morning because if you wait for the spots to show up in the heat of the day, it is difficult to get the spots under control before end of the day. We use a soil probe which allows us to pull out a small core of sand to determine if it has enough moisture. I have also used in the past a pair of polarized sunglasses which shows turf that is becoming stressed or is not as green as the turf around it. Sounds like a gimmick but it does work. It can drive your eyes a little crazy from the red coloration that you are bombarded with though.

Turf stress glasses

http://mvh.sr.unh.edu/mvhtools/psd_filters.htm

Localized dry spots FAQ

http://www.gcsaa.org/files/lds1.pdf

I have an email in to the company that manufactures the profile product to discuss potential issues with them. You can see the layering on this green is at the bottom of the tee. The orange material is the profile. This is at a depth of about 3" and is from a narrow ribbon width to sometimes 1/4" thick. Aeration over the years has helped to break up this situation somewhat but it is impossible to completely cover every spot on a green. Aeration can normally change about 5-10% of the surface. This product is to be blended thoroughly and is an additive to the greens mix. I believe the layering could create excessive amount of moisture at or directly above the area that is layered. Its interesting that when you pull a new hole out of the ground, many times the hole will break at this area of high concentration of material. In my mind this occurs because of the lack of strength in rooting below that area. No scientific proof, just a thought.

The picture below shows you the approximate width of this band of profile.










This is the view of a layer of material where the plug pulled apart while attempting to pull the new hole out of the green profile.










The following views are from a number of greens that were holding water from rain which had happened more than 24-36 hours ago.

The view below is of Green #11 which is one of our flatter greens. As you can see, the hole was almost completely full of water. Water mean less air space for roots which is not good. Water also is a great conductor of heat and cold. We hope as summer arrives to Glen Echo that we can control our water. Natural rain is great at times but we like to control the amount of water that is placed on our greens. The more moisture in the summer usually equals increased levels of heat that is held into our greens which can lead to catastrophic consequences for our shallow rooted turf. Good microbes which are used to help breakdown food for our roots are killed off and pathogens of all type begin to attack our green plant system.










This is the hand pump we use to evacuate water from the hole.

The view below is the level of water that I saw from about 4-5 greens.(1/2 to 1" of water) One green that surprisingly had moisture in it was #8. You would figure with the slope of that green that all of the water would have drained out by now.

Duck update

I have some good news to report about our baby duck situation. Assistant Mike told me that he has seen momma duck and two babies down in the area of the lake on 15. Sorry for the earlier report of a total loss of all our little mallards. Bad reporting on my part.

Fairway Fertilization

This past Thursday and Friday, assistant Mike applied an application of granular fertilizer to our fairways. Our fertilization program for fairways will include this application which will make up about 40% of our fertilization on our fairways. We plan to use urea which is a common source of N for the rest of our fairway fertilization sprayed with our growth regulator applications sometime around the first of July. We will melt the granular urea down with water and will add a plant growth regulator at the same time. We will make about 5 sprayable applications throughout the summer to keep our fairways growth in control and to provide a supplement food source which should give our fairways some consistent growth.

We will be adding a product called Hydrexx to our Urea 47-0-0 fertilizer application which will be mixed in our spray tank with our primo PGR(plant growth regulator). This product reduces the amount of ammonium which is volatilized into the air.(Volatilization is when a fertilizer changes from its stable form to a gas form(ammonium). During this process, 15-20 percent of the fertilizer will be lost to the atmosphere if the fertilizer has not been stabilized. The use of the Hydrexx can be used at a couple of different rates which control the volatilization from 7-14 days. This also allows the nitrogen to be released slowly from 6-8 weeks or 10-12 weeks based on the turf's needs. I've copied a link below which discusses nitrogen volatilization in more detail for those who are interested in reading further.

http://extension.missouri.edu/publications/DisplayPub.aspx?P=WQ257

I've also copied a link to the Agrotain website regarding the Hydrexx product. While you are there, you might check out products called UFLEXX and UMAXX which are stabilized nitrogen products. UFLEXX is the 6-8 week slow release product and UMAXX releases in 10-12 weeks. The UFLEXX product is being used regularly in the home lawn care industry and both products are being used in the golf industry and other turf grass applications..

http://www.agrotain.com/turf/pdf/0109_HYDREXX_09SellSheet.pdf

Below are pictures of Assistant Mike applying our first granular fairway application of fertilizer.
The Lely spreader carries about 8-10 50 pound bags and can throw a distance of 45 feet or so.
Our tees and close zoysia approach areas to greens will be given the same product but will be spread by walking rotary spreaders because they are able to spread at closer range and will reduce any inputs to green surfaces. The product is then usually watered in to get it into the soil profile and prevent burn to the turf grass.